The pharmacodynamics of anticonvulsant and subconvulsant effects of ethanol in CBA and C57BL/6 mice

A method of determination of minimal effective doses (MEDs) of bicuculline causing clonic-tonic convulsions (CTC) and tonic extension (TE) was used to investigate ethanol pharmacodynamics in C57BL/6 and CBA mice, differing in levels of alcohol predisposition. It is observed that ethanol produces a p owerful anticonvulsant action antagonizing convulsant effects of bicucullin e. On a long-term scale, the pharmacological action of alcohol had two phas es in both strains of mice: anticonvulsant tin the interval 5 min to 4 h af ter ethanol administration) and subconvulsant (4-24 h after ethanol adminis tration). C57BL/6 mice were characterized by a more rapid development of th e anticonvulsant effect and its faster decay in comparison to CBA strain. A possibility of correct quantitative evaluation of data allows using the me thod of MED determination as an express model of an acute alcohol abstinenc e syndrome, as well as for screening of new antialcohol drugs. (C) 2001 Els evier Science Inc. All rights reserved.